Fatherhood
by NarglesInTheMistletoe
Summary: Albus seeks advice from his father regarding the fairer gender. One shot.


**Review please, guys. X**

'It's just…' Albus hesitated, watching his dad scribble hastily on Ministry forms, bent low over his desk, 'I was just wondering… how you told mum you liked her?'

Harry stopped writing, and raised his head slowly, staring at Albus as if he had seen him for the first time. Slowly, he opened his mouth. 'Er… I can't really remember, Al.'

Albus had a feeling this was a lie. 'Yeah, but, like… how did you guys first get together?'

Harry shrugged and turned back to his work, scribbling with a definite loss of enthusiasm. 'I don't know, see, Al. Things were different then. I mean, we were together in my sixth year, but that wasn't really serious, I mean we weren't properly together until… until…'

'Why'd you break up?'

Harry hesitated and said once more, 'Well, things were different then, Al-'

Albus jumped as the office door was kicked open to reveal his disheveled uncle, his arms weighed down with a heavy bunch of disorganized folders and messy parchment. 'Hey, Al,' said Ron, hobbling to his brother-in-law's desk and letting the parchment cascade onto the mahogany surface. 'I just came from the office, Harry. I swear to god, the people you've put on the desks… can't handle a god damn thing. They want you to look at these. I've told them things like this don't need your approval, but they still want your signature…'

Harry sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes tiredly. 'It's not me putting them on the desks, it's the gits in administration. Remind me to talk to Percy about it next time we see him…'

Sensing he wasn't going to get any answers, Albus rose slowly from the arm-chair in the corner of the room and began to slink towards the door.

'Where are you off to?' asked Ron, catching him in the corner of his eye. 'Don't let me interrupt, you two keep talking.'

'Ah, no, it was nothing- you guys are busy-'

'What's the hurry, Al?' asked Ron, approaching his nephew and clapping him on the shoulder. 'What can't you say around me?' Ron joked.

'He – er – he was just asking about…' Harry hesitated, and Albus got the impression that perhaps Ron hadn't been crazy about the idea of Harry dating his little sister at the time. 'About asking girls out.'

Albus' cheeks immediately flushed with red, and he glared at his father. That was _not _what he had been asking. True, he had been building up to it, but that was a bit of an exaggeration, and it was clear to Albus that his father was protecting himself. Ron burst out laughing, only increasing Albus' blush. When his laughs subsided, he looked quite serious, and clapped Albus on the shoulder again; Albus winced.

'Listen, Al,' said Ron severely, looking his nephew straight in the eye, 'take this from a guy who knows about women.' From behind Ron's back, Albus could see his father shaking his head as he returned to his paper. 'You never tell a girl you like her; it just makes you look like an idiot.'

'Oh… thanks,' said Albus glumly. 'Bye then.' He shrunk away from his uncle and jumped to the door, slamming it behind him and slumping against the wall of the passageway in frustration. From behind the closed door, he could hear voices spark up from within his father's study.

'_Well done, Ron, that's going to get him far,' _his father was chuckling.

'_Not my problem, mate. I'm just glad I have a daughter.'_

'_Wait until Hugo gets to his age.'_

'_Well, James never wanted to ask you about girls. Maybe Hugo will be the same.'_

'_Albus isn't like James,' _said Harry thoughtfully, and Albus bit his lip. '_He's softer.'_

'_Don't go telling Al that.'_

'_It's not a bad thing.'_

'_I don't think him and James would think much of it.'_

**I wrote this ages ago, intending it to be part of the story I was writing on my other account, **_**A Plethora of Insecurities. **_**I don't upload very much any more now that I'm in senior high school, but I thought I may as well put some of the fragments I wrote up after looking through my old fanfiction folders.**

**I hope you enjoyed it; I know it's not much. x**


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